PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER LLP Steven A. Zalesin (pro ... · 19-cv-00872-HSG PATTERSON BELKNAP...

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28BRIEF OF 58 RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

19-cv-00872-HSG

PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER LLP

Steven A. Zalesin (pro hac vice admission pending)Adeel A. Mangi (pro hac vice admission pending)Zachary Kolodin (pro hac vice admission pending)Amir Badat (pro hac vice admission pending)1133 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10036-6710Tel: (212) 336-2000Fax: (212) 336-2222

LAFAYETTE & KUMAGAI LLP

Gary T. Lafayette (SBN 088666)Brian H. Chun (SBN 215417)1300 Clay Street, Suite 810Oakland, CA 94612Tel: (415) 357-4600Fax: (415) 357-4605

Attorneys for Amici Curiae 58 Religious Organizations

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTNORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

OAKLAND DIVISION

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

vs.

DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity asPresident of the United States, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 4:19-cv-00872-HSG

BRIEF OF 58 RELIGIOUSORGANIZATIONS AS AMICI CURIAEIN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS'MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARYINJUNCTION

Date: 05/17/2019Time: 10:00 AM

Case 4:19-cv-00872-HSG Document 109 Filed 05/02/19 of 45

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ................................................................................................................ ii

INTERESTS OF AMICI ........................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................2

ARGUMENT.........................................................................................................................................3

THE COURT SHOULD ISSUE A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION...................................................3

A. The Constitutional Separation of Powers Serves to Protect Individual Liberty ............3

B. Plaintiffs’ Claims Are Likely to Succeed on the Merits Because the Defendants’Diversion of Funds Violates the Appropriations Clause ...............................................5

C. The Defendants’ Violations of the Appropriations Clause Aim to HarmImmigrants as a Disfavored Group ................................................................................8

D. The Defendants’ Violations of the Appropriations Clause Threaten Amici’sReligious Liberty .........................................................................................................12

CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................18

APPENDIX AIDENTITY AND INTERESTS OF AMICI ............................................................................20


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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page(s)

Cases

Casarez v. State,857 S.W.2d 779 (Ct. App. Tx. 1993).............................................................................................17

Cincinnati Soap Co. v. United States,301 U.S. 308 (1937).........................................................................................................................3

City & Cty. of San Francisco v. Trump,897 F.3d 1225 (9th Cir. 2018) ...............................................................................................6, 8, 10

Clinton v. City of N.Y.,524 U.S. 417 (1998).....................................................................................................................3, 4

Juarez v. State,102 Tex. Crim. 297 (Crim. App. 1925). ........................................................................................17

L. v. United States Immigration & Customs Enf’t (“ICE”),310 F. Supp. 3d 1133, 1149 (S.D. Cal. 2018)................................................................................11

NAACP v. Trump,298 F. Supp. 3d 209, 249 (D.D.C. 2018) .......................................................................................10

Nevada v. U.S. Dep’t of Energy,400 F.3d 9 (D.C. Cir. 2005) .........................................................................................................4, 6

Office of Pers. Mgmt. v. Richmond,496 U.S. 414 (1990).........................................................................................................................3

Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. United States Dep’t of Homeland Sec.,908 F.3d 476 (9th Cir. 2018) .........................................................................................................10

Trump v. Hawaii,138 S. Ct. 2392 (2018)...................................................................................................................13

U.S. Dep’t of the Navy v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth.,665 F.3d 1339 (D.C. Cir. 2012) .......................................................................................................4

United States House of Representatives v. Burwell,130 F. Supp. 3d 53, 71 (D.D.C. 2015) ...........................................................................................12

Vidal v. Nielsen,279 F. Supp. 3d 401, 409 (E.D.N.Y. 2018) ...................................................................................10


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Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer,343 U.S. 579 (1952).....................................................................................................................5, 6

Statutes

10 U.S.C. § 284......................................................................................................................................7

10 U.S.C. § 2801(b) ...............................................................................................................................7

10 U.S.C. § 2808................................................................................................................................5, 7

10 U.S.C. § 8005......................................................................................................................5, 6, 7, 15

31 U.S.C. § 1301(a) ...............................................................................................................................4

31 U.S.C. § 9705..........................................................................................................................5, 6, 15

FY 2019 DOD, Appropriations Act, Pub. L. No. 115-245, § 8005, 132 Stat. 2981,2999 (2018)......................................................................................................................................7

Other Authorities

Executive Order No. 13769, 82 Fed. Reg. 8977 (2017) ......................................................................12

Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States § 531 (1833)............................3

U.S. Const., art I, § 9 cl. 7......................................................................................................................3


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INTERESTS OF AMICI

Led by the Muslim Bar Association of New York, amici are American religious or

religiously-affiliated organizations who represent a wide array of faiths and denominations. Amici

include congregations and houses of worship, as well as professional, civil liberties, and immigrant

rights groups who work with or represent faith communities (“Religious Organizations”). The

individual interests of amici are set out in further detail at Appendix A.

Amici are: Albuquerque Mennonite Church; Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious

Society of Friends (Quakers); Association of Muslim American Lawyers; Campus Ministry of

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York at Hostos and Bronx Community College of City

University of New York; Capital Area Muslim Bar Association; Catholic Charities Community

Services of the Archdiocese of New York; Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton; Church Council

of Greater Seattle; Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador (Cincinnati, Ohio);

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun (New York City); Congregation Beit Simchat Torah; Congregation

Shaarei Shamayim (Madison, Wisconsin); Council on American-Islamic Relations – California

Chapter; Council on American-Islamic Relations – New Jersey Chapter; Council on American-

Islamic Relations – New York Chapter; Cuba Presbyterian Church (New Mexico); Daughters of

Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, USA; East End Temple (New York City); El Paso Monthly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); Episcopal City Mission; Episcopal Diocese of Long

Island; Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts; First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo;

First Congregational United Church of Christ (Albuquerque, New Mexico); Franciscan Action

Network; Franciscan Friars of the Province of St. Barbara; Greater New York Labor-Religion

Coalition; Hispanic Apostolate Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge; Interfaith Alliance of Iowa;

Islamic Society of Central Jersey; Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Metropolitan New


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York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Muslim Advocates; Muslim Bar

Association of New York; Muslim Urban Professionals (Muppies); National Council of Jewish

Women; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant

Justice; New Sanctuary Coalition; New York Justice for Our Neighbors (United Methodist Church);

New York State Council of Churches; Parish of the Epiphany; Pacific Northwest Conference of the

United Church of Christ; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Presentation Sisters at Caminando Juntos;

Romemu; Saint Peter’s Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Sisterhood of Salaam

Shalom; Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ; T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for

Human Rights; Temple Israel of Hollywood (CA); Trinity Church Wall Street; Unitarian

Universalist FaithAction of New Jersey; Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network; Unitarian

Universalist Service Committee; United Methodist Women; University Christian Ministry at

Northwestern University; and West End Synagogue (New York City).

INTRODUCTION

The Appropriations Clause of the United States Constitution provides that: “No money shall

be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” President Trump

ignored that mandate by shrugging off Congress’s rejection of $5.7 billion in appropriations for a

proposed border wall, and purporting to divert funds that had been appropriated for other purposes.

This challenge ensued.

Amici have a direct stake in preventing the president from ignoring the Appropriations

Clause. President Trump’s effort to build a wall is targeted at a specific disfavored group, namely

immigrants entering the United States through the southern border. But the risks of an unchecked

executive with access to unlimited funds to implement its agenda are shared by all potentially-

disfavored groups. Amici, religious groups whose members have, throughout history, faced


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discrimination by powerful executive branches of government both here and abroad, are acutely

conscious of the need for a balance of powers. Indeed, several amici represent groups that have

already been specifically targeted by President Trump, such as Muslims, immigrants, and refugees,

and all amici are justly concerned that the president will, if permitted, use his newfound power to re-

direct appropriations to impinge on the rights of religious minorities.

For the reasons set forth herein and in Plaintiffs’ and other amici’s briefs, amici urge the

Court to grant the Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction restraining Defendants from

diverting funds towards construction of a wall on the southern border.

ARGUMENT

THE COURT SHOULD ISSUE A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

A. The Constitutional Separation of Powers Serves to Protect Individual Liberty

The Founding Fathers recognized that the constitutional separation of powers affords critical

protections against threats by the government to individual liberties. “The accumulation of all

powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands . . . may justly be pronounced the

very definition of tyranny.” The Federalist No. 47 (James Madison). As Justice Kennedy observed,

“[l]iberty is always at stake when one or more of the branches seek to transgress the separation of

powers.” Clinton v. City of N.Y., 524 U.S. 417, 450 (1998).

The Appropriations Clause serves as one of the Constitution’s most critical safeguards of

individual liberty through the separation of powers. It provides that “[n]o money shall be drawn

from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” U.S. Const., art I, § 9 cl. 7.

The “straightforward and explicit command of the Appropriations Clause” is that “no money can be

paid out of the Treasury unless it has been appropriated by an act of Congress.” Office of Pers.

Mgmt. v. Richmond, 496 U.S. 414, 424 (1990) (quoting Cincinnati Soap Co. v. United States, 301


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U.S. 308, 321 (1937)). The power of the purse is “the most complete and effectual weapon with

which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people,” The Federalist No. 58

(James Madison), as it hinders the executive’s efforts to consolidate power. See also Joseph Story,

Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States § 531, at 372 (1833) (“And the [legislature]

has, and must have, a controlling influence over the executive power, since it holds at its own

command all the resources by which a chief magistrate could make himself formidable. It possesses

the power over the purse of the nation and the property of the people.”).

The arrogation of the appropriations power by the Executive Branch presents a particular

threat to the individual liberties of disfavored groups, including religious minorities. Religious

minorities are especially vulnerable to a president, unchecked by Congress, who finds it expedient to

intrude upon the rights of certain religious groups or to appeal to constituencies that disfavor those

groups. When consolidated in the executive, the power to allocate and spend government money

endangers religious liberty because “[m]oney is the instrument of policy and policy affects the lives

of citizens.” Clinton, 524 U.S. at 451. Without the constraints of the Appropriations Clause, a

president desiring to punish or reward a particular religious group has a heightened ability to do so.

See id. (“The individual loses liberty in a real sense if [the appropriations power] is not subject to

traditional constitutional constraints.”).

Congress reinforced the principles of the separation of powers and the Appropriation Clause

by codifying them in legislation requiring Congress to make appropriations explicitly and

specifically. For example, “[a]ppropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the

appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law.” 31 U.S.C. § 1301(a). In addition,

“[a] law may be construed to make an appropriation out of the Treasury . . . only if the law

specifically states that an appropriation is made.” Id. § 1301(d). In other words, “all uses of


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appropriated funds must be affirmatively approved by Congress; the mere absence of a prohibition is

not sufficient.” U.S. Dep’t of the Navy v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth., 665 F.3d 1339, 1348 (D.C.

Cir. 2012). Where Congress makes “an appropriation for a specific purpose[, it] is exclusive of

other appropriations in general terms which might be applicable in the absence of the specific

appropriation.” Nevada v. U.S. Dep’t of Energy, 400 F.3d 9, 16 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (quoting 1924 U.S.

Comp. Gen. LEXIS 578, *4 (Nov. 25, 1924)). These requirements ensure that “Congress’s control

over federal expenditures is ‘absolute.’” See U.S. Dep’t of the Navy, 665 F.3d at 1348. That

“absolute” control prevents the executive from using government funds as a cudgel that threatens

individual liberties.

B. Plaintiffs’ Claims Are Likely to Succeed on the Merits Because the Defendants’Diversion of Funds Violates the Appropriations Clause

Defendants’ attempt to divert funds towards the construction of a southern border wall, in the

face of clear congressional disapproval, is a blatant violation of the separation of powers and the

Appropriations Clause. Defendants claim authority to divert funds for the proposed border wall

from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (“TFF”) and the Department of Defense (“DOD”) pursuant to

certain statutes, including: (1) 31 U.S.C. § 9705; (2) 10 U.S.C. § 8005; and (3) 10 U.S.C. § 2808.

None of these statutes contains the requisite grant of appropriations by Congress for the proposed

border wall.

As an initial matter, Congress explicitly rejected President Trump’s request for $5.7 billion

for a proposed border wall. On January 6, 2019, in the midst of a government shutdown due to

Congress’s refusal to appropriate funding for the proposed border wall, the Office of Management

and Budget (“OMB”) formally requested $5.7 billion from Congress for this purpose.1 On February

1 Letter from Russell T. Vought, Acting Director, Off. of Mgmt. and Budget, to Sen.Richard Shelby (Jan. 6, 2019), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Final-Shelby-1-6-19.pdf.


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14, 2019, one day before the government would shut down once again, Congress passed the

FY 2019 Appropriations Act, which provided for $1.375 billion for “construction of primary

pedestrian fencing, including levee pedestrian fencing, in the Rio Grande Valley Sector” of the

border. H.J. Res. 31 § 230(a)(1). Congress afforded no other funding for the construction of a wall

or fencing on the border. The Defendants’ diversion of funds above and beyond the $1.375 billion

appropriated by Congress constitutes “measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of

Congress, [when the president’s] power is at its lowest ebb.” Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v.

Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 637 (1952) (Jackson, J., concurring). In such a situation, the president “can

rely only upon his own constitutional powers minus any constitutional powers of Congress over the

matter.” Id. Because the president has no constitutional power to make appropriations, Congress’s

rejection of additional funds for the proposed border wall conclusively precludes the Defendants’

diversion of funds. See City & Cty. of San Francisco v. Trump, 897 F.3d 1225, 1233 (9th Cir. 2018)

(“[W]hen it comes to spending, the President has none of ‘his own constitutional powers’ to ‘rely’

upon.” (quoting Youngstown, 343 U.S. at 637)); Nevada, 400 F.3d at 13 (“[T]he Appropriations

Clause of the U.S. Constitution vests Congress with exclusive power over the federal purse.”)

(internal quotation marks omitted).

The statutes invoked by Defendants do not confer the authority to make the desired

appropriations. First, 31 U.S.C. § 9705(g)(4)(B) permits the Treasury Secretary to transfer certain

unobligated balances from the TFF “for obligation or expenditure in connection with the law

enforcement activities of any Federal agency.” Defendants rely on § 9705 to divert hundreds of

millions of dollars towards construction of a border wall in the Rio Grande Valley. As discussed

above, Congress appropriated $1.375 billion for construction of pedestrian fencing in the same area.

H.J. Res. 31 § 230(a)(1). It is well-established that “specific appropriations preclude the use of


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general ones even when the two appropriations come from different accounts.” Nevada, 400 F.3d at

16. In a closely analogous situation, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) determined

that an appropriation for the repair of jails in Alaska precluded funding for repairs to an Alaskan jail

with funds that Congress appropriated from the Treasury for “repairs, betterments, and

improvements of United States jails.” 1924 U.S. Comp. Gen. LEXIS 578, *5 (Nov. 25, 1924).

Here, Congress’s appropriation of limited funds for the border wall in the 2019 Appropriations Act

precludes the diversion of funds from the TFF based on the general appropriation for “law

enforcement activities” in § 9705.

Second, Defendants rely on 10 U.S.C. § 8005 to transfer funds for military personnel into

DOD’s drug interdiction account and subsequently transfer those funds to the Department of

Homeland Security (“DHS”) for border wall construction pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 284. Section 8005

requires that transfers be made only “based on unforeseen military requirements” and “in no case

where the item for which funds are requested has been denied by Congress.” FY 2019 DOD

Appropriations Act, Pub. L. No. 115-245, § 8005, 132 Stat. 2981, 2999 (2018). Here, the

circumstances purportedly requiring construction of the border wall are not “unforeseen,” as

President Trump has advocated for the proposed border wall at least since 2015. Nor can

construction of the proposed border wall be considered a “military requirement.” Finally, as

discussed above, Congress has explicitly denied the funds requested which forecloses any diversion

of funds under this subsection.

Third, Defendants claim authority to divert funds pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 2808, which

permits the Secretary of Defense, upon declaration by the President of a national emergency “that

requires use of the armed forces,” to use funds appropriated for military construction to “undertake

military construction projects . . . not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such


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use of the armed forces.” There is no evidence that any threat at the border “requires the use of the

armed forces.” Indeed, Air Force General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of the U.S.

Northern Command, which is responsible for defending the U.S. homeland, recently stated that the

southern border is “not a military threat.”2 Similarly, Vice Admiral Michael Gilday, Director of the

Joint Staff, responded to a question asking what the military that is currently at the border is doing

that could not be done by DHS by stating: “None of the capabilities that we are providing are

combat capabilities.”3 Moreover, construction of the proposed border wall is not a “military

construction project,” see 10 U.S.C. § 2801(b) (defining “military construction project” as “all

military construction work . . . necessary to produce a complete and usable facility or a complete and

usable improvement to an existing facility”), nor is it necessary “to support [the] use of the armed

forces.”

Because Congress has explicitly rejected the appropriations that Defendants are attempting to

divert and none of the statutes cited by Defendants authorize such diversion, Plaintiffs are likely to

succeed on the merits of their claim that Defendants are in violation of the Appropriations Clause.

See City & Cty. of San Francisco, 897 F.3d at 1235 (“Absent congressional authorization, the

Administration may not redistribute or withhold properly appropriated funds in order to effectuate its

own policy goals.”).

C. The Defendants’ Violations of the Appropriations Clause Aim to Harm Immigrants as aDisfavored Group

Throughout his campaign and his presidency, President Trump has used damaging rhetoric

and harmful policies to castigate immigrants from certain countries, particularly those from Mexico

2 Lolita C. Baldor, AP News, US General Says No Military Threat on Southern Border (Feb. 26, 2019),https://www.apnews.com/a78120075dd4447aa4ba5902a3816c68, accessed Apr. 17, 2019.

3 Heather Timmons, Quartz, The US Border Situation Isn’t a National Emergency, Pentagon Officials Tell Congress(Jan. 29, 2019), https://qz.com/1536879/trump-border-wall-isnt-an-emergency-pentagon-tells-congress/, accessed Apr.17, 2019.


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and Central America. The president’s rhetoric has had little to no basis in fact, and his policies have

been disconnected from legitimate governmental objectives. Rather, President Trump has targeted

immigrants as a political expedient to stoke fear of crime from Mexico and Central America, rally

his base, and win political points. The diversion of funds to build the border wall is in the same

vein, and it exemplifies the threat posed to disfavored groups by allowing an executive to flout the

constitutional separation of powers to serve political goals.

Since the day he announced his candidacy, the border wall has been a key component of

President Trump’s strategy of inciting fear of immigrants for political gain. On the first day of his

campaign, the president made the border wall one of the most prominent items on his policy agenda.

He told his supporters that “[i]t is way past time to build a massive wall to secure our southern

border,” and he famously declared: “when Mexico sends us its people, they’re not sending their

best. . . . They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems

with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” He continued: “It’s

coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s

coming probably . . . from the Middle East.”4

Since then, President Trump has called for a wall on the southern border hundreds of times.5

In doing so, he has publicly referred to immigrants entering the country through the southern border

as “animals,”6 reiterated his comments about immigrants being rapists,7 and tweeted stories of

4 Time, Here’s Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech (June 16, 2015), http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/, accessed Apr. 17, 2019.

5 See generally Trump Twitter Archive, www.trumptwitterarchive.com/ (filtering for tweets containing the word “wall”since June 16, 2015 yields 364 results as of April 30, 2019 at 7:46 P.M. Eastern Time).

6 Gregory Korte and Alan Gomez, USA Today, Trump Ramps Up Rhetoric on Undocumented Immigrants. ‘TheseAren’t People. These Are Animals.’ (May 16, 2018), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/16/trump-immigrants-animals-mexico-democrats-sanctuary-cities/617252002/, accessed Apr. 17, 2019.

7 Michelle Mark, Business Insider, Trump Just Referred to One of His Most Infamous Campaign Comments: CallingMexicans ‘Rapists’ (Apr. 5, 2018), https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4,accessed Apr. 17, 2019.


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immigrants allegedly committing crimes in the United States.8 Just recently, President Trump

tweeted: “With Caravans marching through Mexico and toward our Country, Republicans must be

prepared to do whatever is necessary for STRONG Border Security. Dems do nothing. If there is no

Wall, there is no Security. Human Trafficking, Drugs and Criminals of all dimensions – KEEP

OUT!”9

President Trump’s caustic rhetoric about immigrants is dangerously false. Studies show that

immigrants are about half as likely as native-born Americans to commit crimes, including serious

crimes.10 States with higher rates of undocumented immigrants as a share of population tend to have

significantly lower rates of crime.11 The city of El Paso provides a useful illustration: situated

across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, El Paso’s population is more than 80% Hispanic, and its

Hispanic residents are mostly of Mexican descent. Yet El Paso is one of the safest cities in the

United States, with a homicide rate (2.9 per 100,000 residents) closer to London (1.6 per 100,000)

than to the average rate in the United States (approximately 5 per 100,000).12 Contrary to the

president’s claims, crime in El Paso dropped and achieved historic lows before Congress authorized

a fence to be built in 2006.13

8 Aaron Rupar, Vox, Trump’s Fear-Stoking Immigration Policy, in Two White House Retweets (Apr. 3, 2019),https://www.vox.com/2019/4/3/18294290/white-house-retweets-immigrant-crime-stories, accessed Apr. 17, 2019.

9 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Feb. 3, 2019, 2:03 PM),https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1092181733825490945?s=11.

10 Alex Nowrasteh, Cato Institute, Criminal Immigrants in Texas, (Feb. 26, 2018),https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/irpb-4-updated.pdf, accessed Apr. 25, 2019.

11 Michael T. Light and Ty Miller, Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime?, 56:2 CRIMINOLOGY 370,available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9125.12175.

12 Aaron J. Chalfin, University of Pennsylvania Department of Criminology, Do Mexican Immigrants Cause Crime,available at https://crim.sas.upenn.edu/fact-check/do-mexican-immigrants-cause-crime.

13 Jane C. Timm, NBC News, Fact Check: Trump Claims a Wall Made El Paso Safe. Data Shows Otherwise (Feb. 11,2019), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fact-check-trump-claims-wall-made-el-paso-safe-data-n969506,accessed Apr. 23, 2019.


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The president has not limited his offensive against immigrants to rhetoric and false claims; he

has also implemented policies specifically targeting immigrants entering the United States through

the southern border. Within days of his inauguration, the President signed Executive Order 13768—

aiming to eliminate federal funding to sanctuary cities—which the Ninth Circuit later declared

unconstitutional for violating the constitutional separation of powers. City & Cty. of San Francisco,

897 F.3d at 1234. Months later, he rescinded President Obama’s program for Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”),14 an action later enjoined as arbitrary and capricious by multiple

courts. See, e.g., Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. United States Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 908 F.3d

476, 486 (9th Cir. 2018); Vidal v. Nielsen, 279 F. Supp. 3d 401, 409 (E.D.N.Y. 2018); NAACP v.

Trump, 298 F. Supp. 3d 209, 249 (D.D.C. 2018). On May 7, 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff

Sessions announced15 that the Department of Justice would prosecute all parents entering the United

States illegally with their children, effectively implementing a family-separation policy at the

southern border that resulted in approximately 3,000 children being separated from their parents.16

A court again stopped this policy as illegal—but not before it caused catastrophic and irremediable

damage to thousands of families.17 L. v. United States Immigration & Customs Enf’t (“ICE”), 310

F. Supp. 3d 1133, 1149 (S.D. Cal. 2018).

The border wall is the logical extension of President Trump’s harmful rhetoric and policies

against immigrants, aimed at stoking fear and winning political points rather than achieving

14 Mike Ellis, Rafael Bernal, and Rebecca Savransky, The Hill, Trump Rescinding DACA Program (Sept. 5, 2017),https://thehill.com/latino/348848-sessions-says-DACA-to-end-in-six-months, accessed Apr. 23, 2019.

15 Aric Jenkins, Time, Jeff Sessions: Parents and Children Illegally Crossing the Border Will Be Separated (May 7,2018), http://time.com/5268572/jeff-sessions-illegal-border-separated/, accessed Apr. 23, 2019.

16 Miriam Jordan, The New York Times, Family Separation May Have Hit Thousands More Migrant Children ThanReported (Jan. 17, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/us/family-separation-trump-administration-migrants.html, accessed Apr. 23, 2019.

17 See, e.g., Society for Research in Child Development, The Science is Clear: Separating Families Has Long-TermDamaging Psychological and Health Consequences for Children, Families, and Communities (June 20, 2018),https://www.srcd.org/policy-media/statements-evidence/separating-families.


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legitimate governmental objectives. Although the data belie the president’s claim that there is a

“crisis” at the border,18 the president’s supporters overwhelmingly view illegal immigration as a

major problem that a southern border wall can solve.19 This type of unilateral executive action—

targeting a disfavored group because it is politically expedient—is precisely what the Appropriations

Clause was designed to guard against.20

D. The Defendants’ Violations of the Appropriations Clause Threaten Amici’s ReligiousLiberty

President Trump seeks to seize funds appropriated for specific public purposes and use them

to make good on campaign promises that bear no rational relationship to the purposes for which

those funds were appropriated. That kind of presidential authority is unprecedented in the United

States. Amici have a rational fear that, unless reined in by a court, President Trump will use that

authority to deliver on other campaign promises, including those that impinge on religious liberty.

The danger that an unrestrained executive poses to disfavored religious groups is not new.

Rather, it is intertwined with the history of this country. During the early 1620s, King Charles I of

18 PBS, Trump Says There’s a ‘Crisis’ at the Border. Here’s What the Data Says (Jan. 8, 2019),https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-theres-a-crisis-at-the-border-heres-what-the-data-says, accessed Apr.24, 2019 (observing that (a) the majority of drugs that cross the southwest border arrive through official ports of entry,(b) the U.S. Department of State recently found “no credible evidence” indicating that international terrorist groups havesent operatives into the U.S. through the southern border, and (c) unauthorized migration to the United States has fallensignificantly from its peak in the early 2000s).

19 In a poll performed weeks prior to the 2018 midterm elections, Republicans ranked illegal immigration as the biggestnational problem, with 75% of Republican voters saying it is a very big problem. See Pew Research Center, LittlePartisan Agreement on the Pressing Problems Facing the U.S. (Oct. 15, 2018), https://www.people-press.org/2018/10/15/little-partisan-agreement-on-the-pressing-problems-facing-the-u-s/, accessed Apr. 24, 2019. Thesame poll showed that 64% of Republicans thought that the treatment of people in the U.S. illegally was a small problemor not a problem at all. Id. A poll performed in January 2019, in the midst of the government shutdown over PresidentTrump’s proposed border wall, showed that 82% of Republicans or those leaning Republican favored substantiallyexpanding the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, up from about 63% in 2016. See Pew Research Center, Most BorderWall Opponents, Supporters Say Shutdown Concessions Are Unacceptable (Jan. 16, 2019), https://www.people-press.org/2019/01/16/most-border-wall-opponents-supporters-say-shutdown-concessions-are-unacceptable/, accessedApr. 24, 2019.

20 The Defendants’ attempted diversion of funds also displays indifference for the religious liberties of indigenous groupsalong the border, such as the Tohono O’odham Tribe, whose sacred religious sites will be desecrated by construction ofthe proposed border wall. Laurel Morales, NPR, Border Wall Would Cut Across Land Sacred to Native Tribe (Feb. 23,2017), https://www.npr.org/2017/02/23/516477313/border-wall-would-cut-across-land-sacred-to-native-tribe, accessedApr. 30, 2019.


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England was locked in a prolonged battle with Parliament over Parliament’s refusal to authorize

funds requested by the king, in part due to Parliament’s concerns regarding the king’s respect for the

rights of religious minorities, particularly Puritans. In 1629, King Charles dissolved Parliament so

he could obtain the funds without obstruction.21 This caused what is today known as the “Great

Migration” of Puritans from England to escape religious persecution by an unrestrained king.

Thousands of Puritans fled to America and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the

first English settlements in what is today the United States.22

That danger is similarly pronounced today. Modern courts have recognized that “[i]f the

Executive could circumvent the appropriations process and spend funds however it pleases,” then the

U.S. “constitutional structure would collapse, and the role of the House would be meaningless.”

United States House of Representatives v. Burwell, 130 F. Supp. 3d 53, 71 (D.D.C. 2015).

The existence of other constitutional protections for religious freedoms does not allay amici’s

concern that erosions of the Appropriations Clause threaten religious liberty. In Hawaii v. Trump,

the Supreme Court upheld Executive Order No. 13769, 82 Fed. Reg. 8977 (2017) (EO-1), entitled

“Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” but originally dubbed by

then-Candidate Trump as a “Muslim Ban,” and later as a “Travel Ban.” The Court applied a rational

basis standard, and found that President Trump’s “Muslim Ban” policy was “plausibly related to the

Government’s stated objective to protect the country and improve vetting processes.” Trump v.

Hawaii, 138 S. Ct. 2392, 2420 (2018). The Court was not persuaded that the policy had “the

primary purpose” of “disfavor[ing] Islam and its adherents by excluding them from the country.” Id.

at 2438 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting). In reaching that result, the Court set aside evidence—outlined in

21 The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1624-1629 (Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris 2010), available at

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/survey/parliament-1628-1629.22 New England Historical Society, The Great Migration of Picky Puritans, 1620-40, available athttp://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-great-migration-of-picky-puritans-1620-40/.


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Justice Sotomayor’s dissent—that the President was motivated by animus against Islam and people

of Muslim faith. To name just a few of examples:

• In November 2015, then-candidate Trump remarked at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama that“thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were cheering as the World TradeCenter came down on September 11, 2001. Challenged by George Stephanopoulos onABC’s This Week, he did not waver: “It did happen. I saw it. . . . There were people whowere cheering on the other side of New Jersey where you have large Arab populations.”23

That claim is false.24

• Mr. Trump posted a statement on his website in December 2015 “calling for a total andcomplete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representativescan figure out what is going on.” The statement remained on the website until May 8, 2017,several months into the Trump Presidency. It made no distinction between American andnon-American Muslims.

• That statement continued, “[w]ithout looking at the various polling data, it is obvious toanybody the hatred [of Muslims toward Americans] is beyond comprehension. . . . Until weare able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, ourcountry cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, andhave no sense of reason or respect for human life.”

• In March 2016, Mr. Trump expressed his belief that “Islam hates us.”25

• Later that month, Mr. Trump stated that “[w]e’re having problems with the Muslims, andwe’re having problems with Muslims coming into the country.” He got specific about hisview of what these “problems with the Muslims” were, asserting that Muslims’ lack of“assimilation” and commitment to “sharia law” were responsible for terrorist attacks.26

• On the question of whether he would create a Muslim registry, Mr. Trump was, at best,ambiguous. When asked whether he would put in place a database system tracking Muslims,Mr. Trump stated that he “would certainly implement that.”27 He did not recant, but later

23 Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine, Trump Still Hasn’t Retracted His False Claim That He Saw Muslims Cheering on9/11 (Sept. 11, 2017) http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/09/trump-hasnt-retracted-claim-about-muslims-cheering-9-11.html, accessed Apr. 23, 2019.

24 D’Angelo Gore, FackCheck.org, Trump’s Revised 9/11 Claim (Aug. 5, 2016),https://www.factcheck.org/2016/08/trumps-revised-911-claim/, accessed Apr. 24, 2019.

25 Theodore Schleifer, CNN, Donald Trump: ‘I Think Islam Hates Us’ (Mar. 10, 2016),https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/09/politics/donald-trump-islam-hates-us/index.html, accessed Apr. 24, 2019.

26 Jenna Johnson and Abigail Hauslohner, Washington Post, ‘I Think Islam Hates Us’: A Timeline of Trump’s CommentsAbout Islam and Muslims, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/05/20/i-think-islam-hates-us-a-timeline-of-trumps-comments-about-islam-and-muslims/?utm_term=.2ec601b30d82, accessed Apr. 24, 2019.

27 Vaughn Hillyard, NBC News, Donald Trump’s Plan for a Muslim Database Draws Comparison to Nazi Germany(Nov. 20, 2015), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-would-certainly-implement-muslim-database-n466716, accessed Apr. 24, 2019.


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stated that he “didn’t suggest a database [for tracking Muslims]—a reporter did.”28 Asked inDecember 2016 whether he would “rethink” “plans to create a Muslim registry or banMuslim immigration,” he replied: “You know my plans. All along, I’ve proven to beright.”29

• Under the Trump administration, the Countering Violent Extremism program—which thepresident stated he intended to rename to the “Countering Islamic Extremism” program30—has focused at least 85% of its grants to explicitly target minority groups, includingMuslims.31 That is despite the fact that, since the 9/11 attacks, “nearly twice as many peoplehave been killed by white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslimextremists than by radical Muslims,” as reported in the New York Times.32

The evidence demonstrates, without any ambiguity, that the threat to disfavored religious

minorities from this president are real; and that other constitutional protections alone cannot be

depended upon to provide comprehensive protection against such threats. In light of President

Trump’s documented antipathy toward Islam, and his belief that Muslims residing in the United

States present a security threat, amici are justly concerned that the president will, if permitted, use

his newfound power to re-direct appropriations to impinge on religious liberty. A decision in favor

of Defendants would signal to this president and future presidents that they can appropriate funds on

their own initiative, even where Congress explicitly rejects such appropriation, to target disfavored

religious groups. It would also permit such a broad reading of the relevant statutes that any president

would be able to use phrases like “law enforcement activities,” 31 U.S.C. § 9705, “unforeseen

28 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Nov. 20, 2015, 10:51 AM), https://bit.ly/2L4k7hj.

29 Catie Edmondson, The New York Times, Sonia Sotomayor Delivers Sharp Dissent in Travel Ban Case (June 26,2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/us/sonia-sotomayor-dissent-travel-ban.html, accessed Apr. 24, 2019.

30 Dustin Volz, Reuters, U.S. Senators Denounce Trump Plan to Focus Counter-Extremism Program on Islam (Feb. 9,2017), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-extremists-program-idUSKBN15O2QT, accessed Apr. 24, 2019.

31 Faiza Patel, Andrew Lindsay, and Sophia DenUyl, Brennan Center for Justice, Countering Violent Extremism in theTrump Era (June 15, 2018), https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/countering-violent-extremism-trump-era, accessedApr. 24, 2019.

32 Scott Shane, The New York Times, Homegrown Extremists Tied to Deadlier Toll Than Jihadists in the U.S. Since 9/11(June 24, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/us/tally-of-attacks-in-us-challenges-perceptions-of-top-terror-threat.html, accessed Apr. 24, 2019; see also David Neiwert et al., Reveal, Homegrown Terror (June 22, 2017),https://apps.revealnews.org/homegrown-terror/ (observing that, from 2008 through 2016, “[f]ar-right plots and attacksoutnumber Islamic incidents by almost 2 to 1), accessed Apr. 30, 2019.


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military requirements,” 10 U.S.C. § 8005, and “emergency,” id. § 2808, as pretexts for projects

aimed at violating religious liberties.

Indeed, President Trump has himself indicated that his approach to the border wall and

religious minorities are thematically linked. He has on multiple occasions drawn a connection

between the supposed-threat of Islam and the need for a border wall: “It is amazing how often I am

right, only to be criticized by the media. Illegal immigration, take the oil, build the wall, Muslims,

NATO!”33 That statement was made shortly after the president’s false claim that Muslims in New

Jersey celebrated the 9/11 attacks. He again made that connection in the aftermath of a terrorist

attack in Egypt that killed over 300 people: “Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while

to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life. We have to get TOUGHER AND

SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN!”34 The president has

also frequently made the false assertion that “Middle Easterners” are infiltrating the caravans

traveling north through Mexico to enter the United States,35 going so far as to claim that Muslim

“prayer rugs” have been found at the border.36

And, while this president has usually singled out Muslims for opprobrium, he has signaled

intolerance towards other religious groups as well, including Jews. For example, then-candidate

Trump initially refused to disavow the support of former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David

Duke, asserting: “I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.” He

later included what appeared to be a Star of David embedded with the phrase “Most Corrupt

33 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Mar. 24, 2016, 7:38 AM), https://bit.ly/2IYrsfF.

34 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Nov. 24, 2017, 10:49 AM), https://bit.ly/2Dy5j4h.

35 Jessica Schneider, Geneva Sands, and David Shortell, CNN, Counterterrorism Official Contradicts Trump: No SignISIS or ‘Sunni Terrorist Groups’ Are in Caravan (Oct. 22, 2018), https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/22/politics/caravan-

terrorism-trump/index.html, accessed Apr. 30, 2019.

36 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Jan. 18, 2019 5:22 AM), https://bit.ly/2PvxB44.


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Candidate Ever!” in a tweet criticizing Hillary Clinton.37 On multiple occasions, President Trump

has retweeted messages from known white supremacists and neo-Nazis.38 After neo-Nazi groups

held a rally in Charlottesville, VA during which one of their members murdered a protester named

Heather Heyer, the president told a reporter that there “were very fine people on both sides.”39 The

president’s rhetoric has caused a spike in violence towards Jews, unprecedented in recent decades.

During the first year of his presidency, anti-Semitic incidents increased by 60%, the largest single-

year increase on record.40 Indeed, the gunman who murdered eleven worshippers at a synagogue in

Pittsburgh in 2018 was motivated by his fury over the assistance that a Jewish humanitarian non-

profit (unconnected to the target of the attack) provided to members of the caravan that the President

labeled as “invaders.”41

The threat to religious liberty presented by Defendants’ violation of the Appropriations

Clause is lasting, and thus concerns not only members of groups who are disfavored today, but also

members of any religious faith that may be disfavored in the future. Indeed, many faiths have been

the target of hatred and mistrust over the course of U.S. history. Rhode Island was founded by a

Protestant dissenter, Roger Williams, who had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony

37 Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Donald Trump’s ‘Star of David’ tweet controversy, explained,https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/politics/donald-trump-star-of-david-tweet-explained/index.html, accessed Apr. 25,2019.

38 See, e.g., Eliza Collins, Politico, Trump Retweets Neo-Nazi’s Insult of Jeb Bush,https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/trump-neo-nazi-retweet-218113, accessed Apr. 25, 2019.

39 Politico, Full Text: Trump’s Comments on White Supremacists, ‘Alt-Left’ in Charlottesville,https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/15/full-text-trump-comments-white-supremacists-alt-left-transcript-241662,accessed Apr. 25, 2019.

40 Anti-Defamation League, Anti-Semitic Incidents Surged Nearly 60% in 2017, According to New ADL Report,https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/anti-semitic-incidents-surged-nearly-60-in-2017-according-to-new-adl-report,accessed Apr. 25, 2019.

41 Paul P. Murphy, CNN, Bowers Blamed Jews for Helping ‘Invaders’ in the Migrant Caravans,https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/h_0c180f52c8d032fd47eef570cc5065c2, accessedApr. 25, 2019.


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for his religious views.42 Pennsylvania and Delaware were founded by William Penn as a sanctuary

for Quakers from religious discrimination.43 The Mormons settled in Utah only after being driven

out of Missouri and Illinois.44 A Texas state court once had to make clear that the Equal Protection

Clause prohibited the “systematic exclusion of Catholics from grand jury service.” See Casarez v.

State, 857 S.W.2d 779, 784 n.4 (Ct. App. Tx. 1993) (describing the 1925 case Juarez v. State, 102

Tex. Crim. 297, Crim. App. 1925). The national origins quota system, which played a major role in

the United States turning away Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, was in fact conceived in part

to limit Jewish immigration.45

Amici of all faiths therefore understand that when the president can redirect funds at will—

even in the face of congressional opposition—nothing stands in the way of using such funds to

surveil, harass, and sanction disfavored religious groups.

CONCLUSION

President Trump has long sought to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Congress has

consistently resisted his requests for appropriations to fund that wall. The president in response has

purported to “re-appropriate” funds that were allocated to other purposes. If President Trump is

allowed to indulge this whim, he will turn to others. And the president has, repeatedly, singled out

religious minorities for contempt. Amici therefore have a reasonable expectation that, if permitted to

divert funds on this pretext, President Trump will later use that power to surveil, harass, and sanction

42 Michael W. McConnell, The Origins and Historical Understanding of Free Exercise of Religion, 103 Harv. L. Rev.1409, 1425 (1989).

43 Id.

44 Paul Wake, Fundamental Principles, Individual Rights, and Free Government: Do Utahns Remember How to BeFree?, 1996 Utah L. Rev. 661, 672 (1996).

45 Kevin R. Johnson, Race, the Immigration Laws, and Domestic Race Relations: A ‘Magic Mirror’ into the Heart ofDarkness, 73 Ind. L.J. 1111, 1129 (1998).


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disfavored religious minorities. Amici therefore respectfully urge the Court to grant Plaintiffs’

motion for a preliminary injunction.

Dated: New York, New YorkMay 1, 2019

Respectfully submitted,

Steven A. Zalesin (pro hac vice pending)Adeel A. Mangi (pro hac vice pending)Zachary Kolodin (pro hac vice pending)Amir Badat (pro hac vice pending)PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER LLP1133 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, New York 10036-6710Tel: (212) 336-2000Fax: (212) [email protected]@[email protected]@pbwt.com

By: /s/ Gary T. Lafayette _Gary T. LafayetteBrian H. ChunLAFAYETTE & KUMAGAI LLP1300 Clay Street, Suite 810Oakland, CA 94612Tel: (415) 357-4600Fax: (415) [email protected]@lkclaw.com

Counsel for Amicus Curiae Religious Organizations


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APPENDIX A

IDENTITY AND INTERESTS OF AMICI

1. Albuquerque Mennonite Church

Part of Mennonite Church USA, Albuquerque Mennonite Church is a community of over 150Mennonites who believe strongly in the connections between peacemaking and justice, and theKingdom of God that Jesus taught about and lived out. Mennonites began as a persecuted religiousminority group suffering from the tyranny of toxically interwoven church and state during ourorigins in 16th century Europe. Especially during the early history, Mennonites & Anabaptists oftenmigrated as religious refugees in Russia & Europe. Anabaptists & Mennonites received hostiletreatment when we most needed hospitality. It is imperative that all people today have access to theinternational law asylum-seeking process, especially religious minorities.

2. Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends(Quakers)

Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (“AMM”) is a Quaker Meetingfor Worship in Albuquerque, New Mexico, affiliated with Intermountain Yearly Meeting, acommunity of Quaker Meetings and individual Friends situated within the Intermountain West. Inunity with the shared testimonies of Friends within IMYM, we affirm that “Our witness to the worldcomes from our perception of the Divine Spirit moving through us (IMYM Faith and Practice,Advice 1 on Integrity, p. 130).” “Recognizing the oneness of humanity in God, we affirm fellowshipwith all people (Id., Advice 2 on Integrity, p. 131)”. “We [must] refuse to join in actions thatdenigrate others or lead to their victimization (Id., Advice 4 on Peace, p. 133.)”

Albuquerque Meeting has long been troubled by the treatment of refugees and migrants within theUnited States and in the borderlands. In 2014, we committed ourselves “ . . . to assure that thehumanity of every migrant to our borders is honored and that all are treated with compassion anddignity, regardless of what their legal status may ultimately be determined to be.” (AMM minute2014.8.3) We are concerned about immigrants as a targeted group, or containing representatives oftargeted groups, and see that on our border with Mexico they are threatened with an assault on theirhumanity. The Administration claims that the presence of these asylum seekers at our Southernborder constitutes a threat so severe that it justifies emergency executive action. This demonizationof migrant children and families incites and encourages hatred and fear not only of the migrantsamong us, but even our own documented immigrants and citizens who look or sound like them.

Our current commitment is grounded in our testimony during the 1980s to “extend hospitality topeople in danger far from their homeland . . . [and} challenge our government to act more wisely inits policies . . . to recognize human needs . . . and to welcome refugees within our borders. . . . Wedefy no authority, but in cooperation with other religious groups take this small step towards healingourselves and our country.” (AMM Minute, Nov 11, 1984)

We join this brief because we cannot be faithful to the Light that Spirit has granted us as statedabove and ignore what is being done in our name to these brothers and sisters.


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3. Association of Muslim American Lawyers

The Association of Muslim American Lawyers (“AMAL”) seeks to assist the Muslim-Americancommunity’s exercise of legal rights through education; encourage entry into the legal profession;assist members in their professional development; promote the administration of justice; benefit thecommunity with legal resources and services; identify and explore themes common to American andIslamic jurisprudence; and promote the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and honoramongst AMAL members.

While Americans celebrated the destruction of the Berlin wall we are now creating a symbol and anillustration of a nationalism that says to the world America was created by and for Americans only.This goes against the fabric of American history and culture. We are a melting pot and we cannotchange the American history by simply building a wall. What we need is a comprehensiveimmigration policy that is fair, welcoming and secure.

4. Campus Ministry of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York at Hostosand Bronx Community College of City University of New York

The Catholic Campus Ministry and Interfaith Department, funded by the Roman CatholicArchdiocese of NY since the 1970’s at the community colleges of CUNY, serves the traditionalimmigrant base that bodes well for the future of the NY metropolitan area and our great country.Most of the 13,500 students of both colleges are either immigrants or sons and daughters of peopleof color and accents. No one on campus sees the refugees and migrants coming to our borders asthreats nor criminals. We are all made in the Imago Deo (the Image of God!).

5. Capital Area Muslim Bar Association

The Capital Area Muslim Bar Association (“CAMBA”) is a professional bar association whosediverse membership resides in the Washington, DC metro area. CAMBA’s mission includesfostering a sense of fellowship amongst Muslim legal professionals, addressing legal issues affectingboth the Muslim and non-Muslim community, and educating and advocating for the constitutional,civil, and human rights of all persons. CAMBA signs on to this brief as part of its efforts to ensurethe full and fair treatment of all the communities it serves.

6. Catholic Charities Community Services of the Archdiocese of New York

Since 1949, Catholic Charities Community Services, NY (“CCCS”) has provided direct human andlegal services to over 170,000 people each year from all parts of New York City and the LowerHudson Valley. These services are offered to all New Yorkers in need, regardless of religious belief,because our work is grounded in our belief in the dignity of each person and the building of a just,compassionate society, especially for the most vulnerable among us. CCCS’s Division of Immigrant& Refugee Services provides immigration legal assistance in New York City and the Lower HudsonValley to adults, children, and families seeking protection from violence, abuse, and persecution, andto those seeking family reunification, employment authorization, release from detention, or residenceand citizenship; we also provide resettlement support to newly arrived refugees and asylees, job


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development and employment prep to vulnerable newcomers, integration and ESL assistance toadults and children, and hotline and information services to over 65,000 people each year.

Consistent with the Bible’s teaching that we are to welcome the stranger—one of the mostfrequently mentioned moral imperatives in both the Old and New Testaments—our nation deservesan immigration system which protects human rights and human dignity while upholding the rule oflaw. This requires immigration reform which honors our values and traditions as a nation ofimmigrants. Building walls only divides us as a country and does not address the sources of globalmigration. For these reasons we join this brief.

7. Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton

Since 1913, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, has been saving lives, restoring dignity andhelping individuals and families achieve self-sufficiency. Central New Jersey residents, regardless offaith background, have always found Catholic Charities programs to be welcoming andcompassionate. A private nonprofit, we offer mental health, social and crisis services to individualsand families, particularly those impacted by trauma and adversity. We believe that a border wall isnot a solution to the immigration problem.

8. Church Council of Greater Seattle

The Church Council of Greater Seattle has engaged congregations in Martin Luther King Jr. Countyfor the work of social, economic and racial justice since 1919. Our network of multi-faith religiousorganizations expresses its moral commitment to uphold and affirm the rights and dignity of allimmigrants and refugees through actions that alleviate suffering, remove fear and challenge policiesand practices that dehumanize and separate families. We live out the principle of “love of neighbor”by recognizing the racist and xenophobic underpinnings of the conceptions of “border wall” rhetoricand administrative actions and proclaiming that any attempt to divide loved ones, incarceratechildren, and deny due process to families who seek asylum is a violation of the faiths on which westand. “Border walls” impede the fundamental human rights of all immigrants and refugees toexercise their faiths and live in peace and security. Our faith leads us to a solidarity with all whomigrate in the belief that families belong together.

9. Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador (Cincinnati, Ohio)

The Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador is an Episcopal parish in CincinnatiOhio, with a far-reaching ministry beyond its central urban location.

As Christians we are accountable to a tradition of the Abrahamic faiths. Abraham and Sarah werecalled to leave their homeland and travel across many borders, living as immigrants throughout theirlong lives. The infant Christ was carried by his family in a time of political crisis to another country,fleeing violence: they had no time nor would they have been permitted to get any papers in order.We are strictly commanded by our Savior Jesus Christ as well as by the Torah and the Prophets, thatwe must welcome the refugees and immigrants, that ¨whatever you have done to the least of these,you have done to me.¨ To build a wall or to take any other measures to keep desperate people awayfrom safety and a secure future is to act against our religion and contrary to the command of our


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God. This is reflected in Resolutions from many General Conventions of The Episcopal Church, ofwhich we are a part.

10. Congregation B’nai Jeshurun (New York City)

B’nai Jeshurun (“BJ”) is a synagogue community of nearly 1,800 families on the Upper West Sideof New York City. Our congregation has held democracy, freedom, and diversity as core valuessince its founding in 1825. As a faith community, we feel called-upon to hold ourselves, each other,and our elected leaders accountable for sustaining the core values of our nation, and to bring to bearthe moral values of our Jewish tradition and teachings for the benefit of all people. Indeed, as foundthroughout the Torah and later commentaries, Jewish law and learning address how society treatsstrangers and fugitives, provides refuge, and serves justice and due process. We look at theAmerican immigration crisis through this lens of dignity, fairness, and respect. As such, in Januaryof 2018 we joined a growing movement of American synagogues declaring ourselves “SanctuaryCongregations.” This followed more than two years of work of the BJ Refugee and ImmigrationCommittee, which includes over 100 active members on eight subcommittees, and which has been aJewish presence in local efforts to support refugees, asylum seekers, and the immigrant community.We undertake this work in partnership with other institutions, including: HIAS, Manhattan Together,the Mexican Coalition, Riverside Language Program, T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights,the New Sanctuary Coalition, and Bend the Arc. In addition, we are a founding member of theSynagogue Coalition on the Refugee and Immigration Crisis—an active collaboration of over 19Manhattan synagogues and Jewish organizations. The BJ community, led by its rabbis, sees theborder situation for what is it: first and foremost, an humanitarian crisis. And we believe stronglythat the solution will not be found through inhumane security measures. We are proud to join thiscoalition of faith groups in support of the State of California’s motion for a preliminary injunctionbarring the federal government from diverting funds from the Department of Defense and theDepartment of Treasury toward construction of a wall on the southern border.

11. Congregation Beit Simchat Torah

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (“CBST”) is a bold spiritual community of love and resistance thatembodies a progressive voice within Judaism. Founded in 1973, CBST attracts and welcomes gaymen, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, queer and straight individuals and families who share commonvalues. Passionate, provocative, and deeply Jewish, CBST champions a Judaism that rejoices indiversity, denounces social injustice wherever it exists, and strives for human rights for all people.

CBST is a community of immigrants and refugees and descendants of immigrants and refugees. Wesee those being targeted as part of our community and our neighbors, not our enemies. We arereminded of the words from the book of Leviticus that command us to welcome the stranger becausewe, too, were once strangers in a strange land. As LGBTQ people and Jews, we know the dangers ofdemonization, and we embrace resistance and love as our response. We cannot be silent. CBSTstands committed to furthering social justice and equality for all people. We work within thecongregation, take public action and lend our names and voices to a variety of social andhumanitarian causes.


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After the 2016 presidential election, CBST made a commitment to amplify its social justiceinitiatives and as part of that promise, we joined the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City.We are partnering with them on education, training and support for the immigrant community in thetri-state area. CBST members regularly support immigrants facing ICE hearings and check-ins byattending meetings with DHS officials. We are committed to fighting for justice and for the humanetreatment of all people.

12. Congregation Shaarei Shamayim (Madison, Wisconsin)

Shaarei Shamayim is a growing, open, pluralistic congregation of 160 households, in Madison,Wisconsin. We believe that Judaism is a means for bringing justice, holiness, and joy to our world.We are building Jewish community rooted in creativity and authenticity, and we are reimagining thepossibilities for Jewish life, identity, and community. Working for social justice is one of our corevalues. We are inspired by Jewish tradition to fight for a sustainable world, care for the vulnerable,and create racial and economic justice. We engage in programs to keep up on current issues, partnerwith community organizations to amplify our voices, and get involved in efforts to make our city,region, and world a better place for everyone, including vulnerable refugees. Based on our religiousbeliefs, we have moral objections to the President's actions that are the subject of this litigation, aswe believe his actions will further harm our nation's ability to welcome refugees who legitimatelyseek asylum in our country.

13. Council on American-Islamic Relations – California Chapter

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, California (“CAIR-CA”), is a chapter of the nation’slargest American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. CAIR-CA’s mission is to enhancethe understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.Through its four offices, CAIR-CA serves California’s estimated one million American Muslims byproviding direct legal services to victims of discrimination, working with the media, facilitatingcommunity education, and engaging in policy advocacy to advance civil rights and civicengagement. CAIR-CA also has an Immigrants’ Rights Program, which provides direct legalservices to the community in immigration matters.

CAIR-CA regularly represents members of the Muslim community who have been victims ofanti-Muslim hate crimes as well as individuals who have been targeted by governmental overreachand discrimination. CAIR-CA has seen a significant uptick in the number of hate crimes perpetratedagainst Muslims since the beginning of the 2016 Presidential election campaign, which includedproposals such as the border wall at issue in this case. The President has consistently usedfearmongering about Muslims as a tactic for obtaining funding for the border wall and otherdraconian immigration policies. Congressional refusal to fund the President’s border wall proposalrepudiated his claim that the United States is under a national security threat from Muslims andimmigrants. Allowing the President to appropriate money against the express will of Congress,under the pretext of a national security emergency, would further increase the perception thatMuslims are a serious and imminent threat to the United States, and lead to an increase in hatecrimes and discrimination.


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Congressional appropriations and oversight provide transparency and a critical check onexecutive power which can prevent the executive branch from acting against minority groups.Congress can openly debate the issues, give citizens the ability to weigh in on important decisionsthrough their congressional representatives, and, if necessary, restrict the funds that the executivebranch would need to act in an illegal or immoral manner. These structural protections in ourconstitution are especially important to CAIR-CA and its constituents now, with the currentadministration’s open hostility towards Muslims. Allowing the President to reallocate funds againstthe express wishes of Congress undermines everyone’s rights, but the harm is disproportionatelyborne by disfavored groups, including immigrants and religious minorities.

14. Council on American-Islamic Relations – New Jersey Chapter

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, New Jersey (“CAIR-NJ”) is a civil rights organizationlocated in New Jersey, focused on defending the civil rights of New Jersey’s Muslims. ThisPresident, who has shown disdain for of all types of disenfranchised groups and has specificallyvilified Muslims, would set a dangerous precedent, if allowed, by side-stepping the checks andbalances that are the cornerstone of this democracy. No one person should have the ability toallocate taxpayer funds, unchecked, for personal political gain, as is the case with this fabricatedemergency.

15. Council on American-Islamic Relations – New York Chapter

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, New York Inc. (“CAIR-NY”) is a leading Muslim civilliberties and advocacy organization, defending, representing, and educating nearly one millionMuslims in the New York area. CAIR-NY's mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protectcivil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. Through legal representation,education, media relations, and advocacy, CAIR–NY empowers the American Muslim communityand encourages their participation in political and social activism. CAIR–NY counsels, mediates,and advocates on behalf of Muslims and others who have experienced discrimination, harassment, orhate crimes. Our lawyers work to protect and defend the constitutional rights of American Muslims,thus supporting the rights of all Americans. CAIR-NY opposes the construction of a border wall andis committed to ensuring that every human being receives dignified treatment and the right to seekrefuge for themselves and their families. CAIR-NY has participated in many protests against theborder wall and inhumane border policies. Last year, CAIR-NY’s parent and sister organizationsparticipated in week of action called “Love Knows No Borders: A moral call for migrant justice”that began on Human Rights Day on December 10. CAIR and other participants called on theUnited States government to respect the human right to migrate and end border militarization.

16. Cuba Presbyterian Church (New Mexico)

Cuba Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church, USA), Cuba, NM is a small, traditionalcongregation in a northern New Mexico village. It was established in 1889 in a multi-culturalcommunity made up of Spanish and Mexican settlers among the diverse Native American tribalcommunities – Navajo, Jicarilla Apache, and the nineteen Pueblos; along with the Anglo Americanpresence which came into the area in the 1870s. We are keenly aware we are all immigrants, andfeel called to assure others the opportunities our families have had. Our mission as a church is to


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spread God’s loving message to all regardless of race or national origin. By unlawfully seizingauthority given to Congress, the Defendants have redirected funding which directly impacts our localcommunity. In the larger picture, this incident is seen as possibly the first step in taking other illegalactions which may directly impact our freedom and culture, and overshadow and impair theChristian message we are living in this community.

17. Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, USA

The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul are an international community of about 16,500Catholic sisters who devote our lives to serving the poorest and most abandoned individuals intoday’s society. The Daughters of Charity, USA, many of whom are immigrants themselves, servein 27 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and Canada.

Since 2014, families have been arriving with increased frequency to the U.S./Mexico Border. TheDaughters of Charity who minister and/or live in El Paso and Harlingen, Texas, and Reynosa,Mexico, walk with them. We provide pastoral accompaniment within immigrant detention facilities,as well as legal and social assistance after they are released. Our experiences with the immigrantpopulation demonstrate that they are good people who present no danger and have no history ofcausing violence. They are immigrating to survive and they have become blessings to ourcommunities.

Instead of bridges, political leaders promote funding for more walls. Border walls destroy theecosystem and economy of the border towns; force vulnerable immigrants to take more dangerousroutes; and provide no actual, additional safety or deterrence of refugee flow. The Daughters ofCharity, believe that additional funding for the border wall is a blinding manifestation of immoralpolitics, cultural exclusion and unwarranted fear. Jesus taught us that what we do reveals what weare. Promoting this wall says we are weak and fearful. It is an epic failure to act as followers ofChrist and violates the values of those who proudly claim to live in the home of the brave.

18. East End Temple (New York City)

East End Temple is a Reform Jewish congregation located in lower Manhattan in New York Citythat is dedicated to issues regarding immigration and immigrants’ rights. With members of thecongregation who are immigrants themselves or are descendants of recent immigrants, thecongregation is particularly committed to the principle and commandment to welcome the stranger.

19. El Paso Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

The El Paso (Texas) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is a forty-yearold organization but the roots of Quakers go back to seventeenth-century England. Friends strive topractice the ways of simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality. Included in those valuesis our support for family-based immigration, the diversity visa, and strengthening access to asylum.El Paso Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends wishes to sign on as an amicus curiaein support of the State of California's motion for a preliminary injunction barring the federalgovernment from diverting funds from the Department of Defense and the Department of theTreasury toward construction of a wall on the southern border. Along with others, we stand to losewhen the executive branch usurps the role of our elected representatives to budget for expenses. In


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particular, the building of more border wall seems unnecessary and potentially ineffective andbelligerent.

20. Episcopal City Mission

Episcopal City Mission builds relationships and collective power across the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts for racial and economic justice as the expression of God’s transforming love. We dothis by developing, convening, mobilizing, and funding prophetic leaders in Episcopal communities,grassroots organizations and faith-rooted organizations.

At Episcopal City Mission (“ECM”) we believe that all life was created in the image of God andreveals God’s loving presence. We follow Jesus, one who embodied love and justice by honoring thepeople most overlooked by society and challenging systems of separation that denied sacredness. Wefollow in the way of Jesus when we serve as God’s heart, hands and feet in the world today.President Trump’s decision to build a wall with government funding targets those people with whomwe are most called to demonstrate solidarity. In addition, this action stands in direct opposition toECM’s commitment to honor life, follow Jesus, and build communities that care for the oppressedand seek the common good.

21. Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island consists of 140 parish churches from the Brooklyn Bridge tothe end of Suffolk County. The Bishop of the Diocese fully supports this effort for a preliminaryinjunction to stop the administration (federal government) from mis-directing and illegally usingDefense Department and Treasury Funds to construct an immoral, impractical and useless borderwall. The administration’s fixation with constructing this wall is representative of theadministration’s sinful and unlawful scapegoating of asylum seekers to promote an un-American,protectionist, nationalist agenda. It must not be allowed to happen.

22. Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts

The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts is an aggregate of 50+ congregations andcommunity-based ministries. Our diocese spans from the Berkshires in the west to Worcester Countyin the center of the Commonwealth. As bishop I am the lawful and spiritual leader and the bridgebetween our diocese and The Episcopal Church. The President’s use of government funds forbuilding the southern border wall is a clear violation of the Congress’ power of the purse. Thesituation at our southern border may quite rightly be seen as a crisis as the President’s policy shiftshave stranded asylum seekers in Mexico for an indeterminate time. The impact of his change tonational policy has endangered the lives of people who seek safety here. What has been done to thechildren under orders from the President, is immoral and an affront to human dignity. I join thisamicus brief on behalf of the Episcopalians in Western Massachusetts who have promised to upholdthe dignity of every human being.

23. First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo

The First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo is an Immigrant Welcoming Congregation.


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We are opposed to these actions on theological and moral grounds. We are committed to providingsanctuary to those being unjustly persecuted by the government. We believe budgets are moraldocuments and that it is never acceptable to fabricate a “crisis” in order to use important funding tobuild the so-called border wall. Lying is a sin and is beneath the dignity of the United States ofAmerica.

24. First Congregational United Church of Christ (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

We are a sanctuary church. Our mission is to live God’s love, justice, and inclusion. We are clearthat a wall is not loving, it is not just, and it is not inclusive. Our faith tells us to build bigger tablesto welcome the stranger. Our God does not call us to build walls, but to be hospitable to all people.

25. Franciscan Action Network

Franciscan Action Network (FAN), a faith-based organization with 53 institutional members andover 12,000 individuals in all 50 states, wishes to sign on as an amicus curiae in opposition tofunding construction of a wall on the U.S. southern border.

The proposed wall is contrary to faith values of compassion, solidarity, and care for creation.Migration of people has been a reality and human right since biblical times. While extension of thewall will do little to stop human migration, it will result in further separation of families, severanceof wildlife migration routes, and destruction of thousands of acres of natural habitat. We heed thewarning of Pope Francis on March 31, 2019: “Those who build walls will become prisoners of thewalls they put up.”

26. Franciscan Friars of the Province of St. Barbara

The Franciscan Friars (O.F.M.) is a Catholic religious order founded by St. Francis of Assisi. TheFriars of the Province of St. Barbara are geographically located in California, Arizona, Washington,and Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. We have a long tradition of ministering to migrants and are veryfamiliar with the problems facing migrants in their home countries and in the United States. PopeFrancis has told Donald Trump and his advisers that his wall is “not Christian” and that we shouldbuild bridges, not walls. The friars of our Province agree with Pope Francis’s comments. Webelieve further that the border wall being pursued by the Trump Administration is not a solution tothe problems facing either U.S. residents or migrants and that the money being spent illegally by theAdministration to build the wall could be put to far more productive uses.

27. Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition

The Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition is an interfaith worker rights and economic justiceadvocacy organization. We stand for the full worker and human rights of low wages and immigrantworkers. We deplore the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees at the border, violating bothreligious ethics and international law. The situation on the border is humanitarian crisis, deservingof our compassionate response, not a punitive inhumane “emergency” violating human rights.


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28. Hispanic Apostolate Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge

The Hispanic Apostolate of the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge is an organization whose missionis to promote the integration of our Hispanic brothers and sisters into the life of the Catholic Dioceseof Baton Rouge. In keeping with that mission, we believe that the construction of a wall on thesouthern border, using funds designated for more worthy uses, would cause senseless harm, andtherefore enthusiastically endorse the Religious Organizations amicus brief.

29. Interfaith Alliance of Iowa

Interfaith Alliance of Iowa is a progressive voice for people of faith and no faith celebratingreligious freedom by championing the rights of individuals, promoting policies that protect bothreligion and democracy, and empowering diverse voices to challenge extremism.

Our nation and the state of Iowa is strengthened by the rich cultures and varied gifts of those whocome from diverse countries. Those who come into our country as immigrants, refugees, and asylumseekers are looking for a better life for their families, to earn a good living, for their children toreceive a good education, to worship freely as they choose, and to be welcomed as neighbors intocommunities in which they can thrive. These goals are no different than those who immigrateddecades and centuries before from many of our families. Building a wall is antithetical to the valuesthat uphold the American Dream. A wall is a political ploy but it also does grave harm to ourdemocracy and the ideals to which we aspire. Misusing the power of the presidency on the backs ofthose seeking refuge simply for political gain is morally corrupt.

The Interfaith Alliance of Iowa believes in the American Dream and we believe that welcoming thestranger, while utilizing logical and effective laws that ensure a speedy and fair process, is necessaryto protecting that dream for all who seek it. A wall does nothing other than tear our nation apart andis un-American in its conception.

30. Islamic Society of Central Jersey

The Islamic Society of Central Jersey (“ISCJ”) is an organization of Muslim Americans thatprovides religious, educational and social services to its members, as well as to the community atlarge. ISCJ is a non-political, non-profit, religious organization that encourages its members to bemodel citizens of the United States.

ISCJ stands against the border wall as it goes directly against the tenets promulgated by ourProphets: Jesus, Moses and Muhammad amongst others. We should always stand by in support tothose in need. “Those needy ones . . . who are hindered from moving about the earth in search oftheir livelihood especially deserve help. . . . And whatever wealth you will spend on helping them,Allah will know of it. (2:273).

31. Leadership Conference of Women Religious

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (“LCWR”) is an association of leaders ofcongregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. LCWR has nearly 1300 members,who represent approximately 38,800 women religious. Catholic sisters began coming to these shores


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almost 300 years ago as immigrants to serve immigrant populations and continue to this day tominister to those seeking safety from persecution and refuge from harm. Founded in 1956, LCWRassists its members to collaboratively carry out their service of leadership to further the mission ofthe Gospel in today’s world.

As women of faith, we believe that all people are created in God’s image and worthy of respect, andthat the right of each person to practice her or his religion is sacred. President Trump’s attempt tousurp Congress’s power to appropriate funds violates the U.S. Constitution and further strengthensthe power of the executive. We fear that such concentration of power threatens the rights ofindividuals to the free exercise of religion. Furthermore, attempts by an increasingly powerfulexecutive to wall-out those seeking refuge and asylum in the United States severely limits our abilityto heed God’s call to welcome the stranger and care for those in need (Mt 25:35-40) thus impingingon our right to the free exercise of religion.

32. Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church inAmerica

The Metropolitan New York Synod is the regional expression of the Evangelical Lutheran Church inAmerica, a member church of the Lutheran World Federation—A Communion of Churches.Lutherans are a diverse group of people, convinced that the Holy Spirit is leading us toward unity inthe household of God. As Lutherans, we are worshipping God, helping friends and neighbors,celebrating diversity, feeding the hungry, working for justice, and advocating for peace. When weserve others and address social issues that affect the common good, we live out our Christian faith.There are nearly 200 congregations across New York City, Long Island, and in the counties ofWestchester, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Dutchess. The Rev. Donald McCoid servesas the Lutheran Bishop of the Metro New York area.

The Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is party to theamicus brief for two reasons. First, building the proposed border wall would divert funds from ourmilitary. Many Lutherans serve as officers, chaplains and enlisted members of the armed forces. Wecannot condone the diversion of well-considered funds allocated by congress intended to support ourmilitary because such diversion would be a harm to Lutheran members of the military. Second,building the proposed border wall would separate communities along the border. Many Lutheranslive in towns, villages and communities that straddle both sides of the border. Religious life isamong the many elements of life intertwined in these areas. This border wall would separate peoplewho otherwise pray together, worship God together, study the Bible together, tend to each other’sneeds together. Further, these intertwined Lutheran communities, working closely with otherreligious communities, have been a source of stability, unity and security in these border areas. Theproposed border wall take away the right to exercise religion in these manners, and so we cannotsupport either the building of this proposed wall by diverted funds or otherwise.

33. Muslim Advocates

Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths. Muslim Advocatesadvances these objectives through litigation and other legal advocacy, policy engagement, and civic


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education. Muslim Advocates also serves as a legal resource for the American Muslim community,promoting the full and meaningful participation of Muslims in American public life. MuslimAdvocates has an active docket of immigrants' rights cases, and has represented both Muslim andnon-Muslim plaintiffs in matters that relate directly to border issues, and has spoken out againstracist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric related to the border wall in recent months. Theissues at stake in this case relate directly to Muslim Advocates' work fighting for an inclusive societythat ensures that all members of our communities are welcome and able to thrive in this country.This includes opposing policies, like the border wall, that inevitably will lead to more civil rightsviolations and a less welcoming society for Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants alike.

34. Muslim Bar Association of New York

Muslim Bar Association of New York (“MuBANY”) is one of the nation’s largest and most activeprofessional associations for Muslim lawyers. MuBANY provides a range of services for the legalcommunity and for the larger Muslim community. One of MuBANY’s missions is to improve theposition of the Muslim community at large by addressing issues affecting the local and nationalMuslim population, through community education, advancing and protecting the rights of Muslimsin America, and creating an environment that helps guarantee the full, fair and equal representationof Muslims in American society. MuBANY works actively to combat anti-Muslim and anti-Islamicstereotypes in the media, courts, law enforcement and the greater community. MuBANY isespecially concerned by the increasing fear and hysteria used by government officials againstimmigrant communities as a justification to construct a border wall. Particularly, as nearly two-thirdsof Muslim Americans identify as immigrants.

35. Muslim Urban Professionals (Muppies)

Muppies, Inc., also known as Muslim Urban Professionals (“Muppies”), is a nonprofit, charitableorganization dedicated to empowering and advancing Muslim business professionals to be leaders intheir careers and communities. Its mission is to create a global community of diverse individualswho will support, challenge, and inspire one another by providing a platform for networking,mentorship, and career development.

Muppies represents an engaged group of Muslim professionals that believe the rights of allAmericans, including minorities, should be protected. We oppose any policy or actions that result ina reduction of opportunity and freedom for any individuals or groups.

36. National Council of Jewish Women

The National Council of Jewish Women (“NCJW”) is a grassroots organization of 90,000 volunteersand advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives forsocial justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families and by safeguardingindividual rights and freedoms. NCJW’s Resolutions state that NCJW resolves to work for“Comprehensive, humane, and equitable immigration, refugee, asylum, and naturalization laws,policies, and practices that facilitate and expedite legal status and a path to citizenship for moreindividuals.” Consistent with our Principles and Resolutions, NCJW joins this brief.


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37. NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice is a national organization founded by Catholic Sistersin 1972. For 45 years we have worked at the intersection of faith and politics. NETWORK Lobbyfor Catholic Social Justice believes the federal budget is a moral document that must reflect thevalues of our nation. The Trump administration’s plan to use federal funds to construct a border walland increase immigration enforcement must be rejected as it contradicts our nation’s foundingprinciples. The administration’s goal is to restrict the flow of immigrants and refugees, create alarger deportation force, and vastly expand private detention centers under the misguided pretext ofnational security. Such expenditures will lead to greater family separation and create terror inimmigrant and border communities. As people of faith, we are called to love our neighbor. Theperpetuation of suffering brought on by the administration’s policies offend the dignity of all humanbeings and violate our faith teachings.

38. New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice

The New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice is a faith based group that was formed overeight years ago as a response to attacks on our immigrant communities during the lastadministration. Since its formation, the Coalition has been deeply committed to supporting theimmigrant families in New Mexico through the hardships of deportation and detention and has beenoutspoken against unjust and inhumane immigration laws, advocating for laws that reflect the highervalues of the dignity of the person, unity of the family, richness in diversity, and the freedom of thepursuit of purpose. Among the many services we provide to the immigrant community are directservice: connecting families to legal and social resources, faith-based community education ofimmigrant issues, border awareness programs, micro-loans for immigration form submittals, courtaccompaniment for families, and refugee hospitality program: picking up and finding a place to stayfor asylum seekers and asylees released from the Cibola detention center.

As an organization focused on bringing diverse spiritual voices to the table in ensuring a life ofdignity for migrants and refugees, the New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice stands insupport of this amicus brief. Remembering the words of Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (“Firstthey came for...”) it is important to ensure the separation of powers so minority groups cease to betargeted, compromising the health and survivability of our democracy. In New Mexico, as in moststates, there are ample examples we see of Muslim refugees, Latin American asylum seekers andundocumented migrants and other minority groups being targeted by Immigration enforcement andother government agencies. As such, we believe it is imperative that the balance of powers be morestrongly followed so as to avoid dangerous appropriations out of line with the desires and well-beingof the residents of our country.

39. New Sanctuary Coalition

The New Sanctuary Coalition (“NSC”) is an immigrant-led organization that coordinates volunteerefforts to provide legal and social support for many hundreds of immigrants, their families, and theircommunities. NSC is grounded in New York’s faith-based and social justice communities, NSCaims to stop the inhumane system of deportation and detention through accompaniment tomandatory ICE check-ins and immigration court hearings; legal support and referrals through clinics


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staffed by volunteer lawyers and trained laypeople; assistance with asylum applications; advice onpro se defense at court hearings; provision of a bond fund; rights trainings, and advocacy to increasedetained immigrants’ access to legal defense tools.

40. New York Justice for Our Neighbors (United Methodist Church)

New York Justice for Our Neighbors is a faith-based legal services ministry of The UnitedMethodist Church that provides free legal services to indigent immigrants who need to adjust theirstatus. Consistent with the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church, New York Justice forOur Neighbors believes that resources should be committed to addressing the root causes ofmigration rather that building a wall. Moreover, scripture compels us to treat the foreigner as thecitizen among us; a border wall is inconsistent with that position.

41. New York State Council of Churches

The New York State Council of Churches has been in existence since the late 19th Century andcurrently is comprised of eight denominations (American Baptist Churches USA, Episcopal Church,Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society ofFriends (Quaker), Reformed Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church ofChrist, United Methodist Church) and approximately 7,000 congregations from those denominationsin every part of New York State.

The New York State Council of Churches states in its constitution that “It’s fitting that Christiansshould manifest their unity by joining together to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to showGod’s good and just purposes throughout New York State. Therefore, we covenant to care for oneanother, safeguard the presence of vital Christian communities, provide hospitality to all, proclaimthe gospel boldly in each place, and declare God’s just will among the powers and principalities.”

Given our mission, we have a compelling interest to serve as Amici to protect the freedoms of ourcongregations and its lay and clergy leaders that they may freely exercise their first amendmentrights to welcome the stranger, advocate for marginalized and vulnerable people and seek theirwelfare. Such advocacy is central to our goal to offer the good news of the Gospel in word and deedin a broken world and to provide effective pastoral care to our congregants and those in the societyas a whole. All of our denominations have well developed theological positions to advocate forimmigrants who have, over the years, been subjected to discrimination and marginalization. We haveadvocated for government policies and laws which prevent this discrimination and allow for humanflourishing.

We are deeply grieved by the lawless conduct of the President in unilaterally reallocating federalfunds appropriated by Congress to an unauthorized use in order to prevent immigrants from findingprotection, shelter and freedom in the United States of America. The prospect of future actions bythe President that circumvent the Constitutional requirements for allocating and using tax moneythreatens to undermine our system of checks and balances. If unrestrained, such conduct can and islikely to be used in ways that harm the poor, the vulnerable and the stranger in our midst, and thatwill undermine the ability of our congregants and their lay and clergy leaders to offer the good newsof the Gospel.


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42. Parish of the Epiphany

On behalf of the Parish of the Epiphany, I wish to join our voices in support of the amicus brief thatopposes the building of a border wall with public funding. As a welcoming Episcopal communitycommitted to working for the dignity of every human being, we believe that Christ calls us to loveour neighbors—all of them—and to extend welcome to the stranger, giving the greatest honor tothose held in lowest esteem. The present Administration's insistence on building a wall on the US-Mexican border, in defiance of the will of Congress, undermines the most vulnerable segments ofsociety: the desperate people, among them religious activists and members of small religious groups,who flee to our country for refuge, and US residents whose services will be cut due to the diversionof funding. This action directly contradicts our Christian values and we strongly oppose both thebuilding of the wall and the weakening of our democratic institutions.

Our Mission Statement

We are a welcoming Episcopal community, united in God, called to seek and serve Christ in allpersons and to transform our world through love and generosity. Christ calls us to be reconcilers andto offer hospitality to the stranger, and to reach out to those living on the margins. May God give usall the grace to live out this imperative.

43. Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ

The Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ (“PNCUCC”) is an organizationof approximately 80 churches in Washington State, North Idaho and Alaska. Our Constitution andBylaws open with this scriptural guidance; “The Lord has told us what is good. What God requiresof us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with ourGod.” The Pacific Northwest Conference is happy to sign on to this amicus because of a resolutionwe passed in 2017. In the summary of the resolution we stated “...that every immigrant and refugeehas inherent dignity and human rights. Every immigrant and refugee should be able to live in safety,live without fear, and have access to basic necessities and opportunities.”

44. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.) (“PCUSA”) joins this brief as the senior ecclesiastical officer of the PCUSA. The PCUSAis a national Christian denomination with nearly 1.6 million members in over 9500 congregations,organized into 170 presbyteries under the jurisdiction of 16 synods. Through its antecedent religiousbodies, it has existed as an organized religious denomination within the current boundaries of theUnited States since 1706.

This brief is consistent with one hundred and twenty-six years of policies adopted by the GeneralAssembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) wherein we have pressed our government for bettertreatment of immigrants and refugees. As taught in Exodus 22:21-24 “21 You shall not wrong oroppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not abuse any widowor orphan. 23 If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; 24 mywrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and yourchildren orphans.” The Bible. New Revised Standard Version. Ex 22:21-24. This is but one of the


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many instances where we are taught, in fact, encouraged, to be welcoming of others into our midst.The citizens of this country, which was founded on the backs of immigrants fleeing persecution intheir lands of origin, must find space in their midst for others just like those that came before them.Widows, orphans, or aliens, all can be related to. It is time for us to come together and build thepossibilities of hope in places where there is great despair. Isn’t that what Jesus did? Jesus stood withthose who are outcasts and broken, despised, dejected, damned and demeaned. Jesus reminds us thatour calling is to be with the least of these. We are accountable to a gospel that we believe calls us todraw closer to the one who gave his own life for us, so we may no longer live in bondage. We are apeople of faith, who believe in Jesus Christ. And as such, we stand firm against principalities thatwould dare take away people’s freedoms. If we do not do this work, may God have mercy on oursouls.

The General Assembly does not claim to speak for all Presbyterians, nor are its policies binding onthe membership of the Presbyterian Church. However, the General Assembly is the highestlegislative and interpretive body for the denomination, and it is the final point of decision in alldisputes. As such, its statements are considered worthy of the respect and prayerful consideration ofall the denomination’s members.

45. Presentation Sisters at Caminando Juntos

Presentation Sisters’ Hispanic Ministry, Caminando Juntos, has an 18-year history of welcoming theLatinos to the Sioux Falls, SD area by providing immigration services, reunifying unaccompaniedminors with families, connecting people to social resources, teaching English to adults and creatingcultural connections within the broader community. We minister from the gospel mandate, “I was astranger and you welcomed me.” (Matt. 25:35) We strongly believe that it is clearly the role ofCongress to appropriate funds and to authorize the use of those funds. This role is outside of theauthority of the Executive Branch of our Government and the President's attempt to use fundspreviously appropriated and designated for other purposes is a violation of the principle of separationof powers which is fundamental to our Democracy.

We also believe that both border security and laws are necessary to support the rule of law.However, our faith challenges us to consider both the human and financial cost of building a wall atthe U.S.-Mexico border. We agree with the U.S. Bishops when they say, “construction of such a wallwill only make migrants, especially vulnerable women and children, more susceptible to traffickersand smugglers.” We believe that more financial resources should be spent to address the reasonspeople are so desperately leaving their countries. Our faith calls us to build bridges of dialogue anddiplomacy with countries from which migrants are fleeing, and work toward compassionateimmigration reform across borders.

46. Romemu

Romemu is a Jewish community that seeks to integrate body, mind, and soul in a progressive, fullyegalitarian community committed to tikkun olam, or social action, and to service that flows from anidentification with the sacredness of all life. As a spiritual community grounded in the twin valuesof tikkun olam (social action) and a Divine connection meant to inspire us to live more holy andengaged lives, we feel that it is our duty and responsibility to speak out against injustice. As a


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Jewish community engaged with our historical narratives, we know that a large part of our own storyhas been shaped by being refugees and foreigners in strange lands. It is for this reason that the mostrepeated injunction in the Torah is the commandment to take care of and love the stranger. Weknow from our own families and historical stories what it is like to be strangers, and we are gratefuland loyal to this country for the opportunities and blessings that it has provided. We have anobligation as religious, moral, and compassionate individuals to make sure that America continues tobe a place where those marginalized can find economic security, freedom, and hope.

On behalf of Romemu, we would like to be a signatory to the amicus brief protesting the creation ofthe wall on our southern border. We protest the criminalization and vilification of economic andpolitical refugees. Many in the Romemu community are children and grandchildren of Holocaustsurvivors, pogroms and other displacements in other parts of the world. Furthermore, the diversionof monies from the Department of Defense and the Treasury for an altogether different purpose likea wall is a threat to our constitution and the rule of law.

No less than 36 times does the Torah mention how we are to treat the "stranger", as it is said in theBook of Exodus 22:20: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress them, for you were strangers inthe land of Egypt.”

47. Saint Peter’s Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Saint Peter’s Church is an active parish community of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Americanin Midtown Manhattan of 750 diverse members engaged in a myriad programs to shape life in thecity through worship, visual and performing arts, fellowship, and advocacy. We are a publiclydeclared sanctuary congregation. Our church joins this amicus brief because the members of thiscommunity rely on the religious liberty granted by the Constitution of the United States. Theprotection of religious liberty is ensured by the three co-equal branches of the government. Whenone branch of government usurps the authority of another branch of government, the Constitutionitself is challenged and in is jeopardy. Because of our reliance on religious liberty and theConstitution in which the right of religious liberty is granted, we can in no way condone any actionwhich undermines the authority of the three co-equal branches of government for the very protectionof the Constitution is at stake. As Lutherans in the United States, we are all immigrants from othercountries: in the 1700s and 1800s predominately from Europe and Scandinavia (Saint Peter’s earlyheritage), in the 1900s predominately from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and in the late 1990sand early 2000s predominately from Central and South America, the Middle East and several AsianIsland nations (Saint Peter’s current heritage). In nearly all cases these Lutheran immigrants to theUnited States were fleeing untenable religious situations in their country of origin. We both knowthe perils of unfriendly or unstable government, as well as the welcome provided by religious sistersand brothers in the various Lutheran churches in the United States. We wish for this religious libertyto be protected.

48. Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom

The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom is opposed to using funds to build border walls. Our mission is tobuild relationships to put an end to hate. We build bridges and tear down walls. Putting up walls isagainst what we believe this country stands for. All of us entered this country, whether directly or


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through our relatives, with the goal of living in a land that provides equal values and freedom for all.We will stand behind all efforts to maintain the values of our forefathers and mothers. We willcontinue to tear down those walls and will do what is needed to ensure that new walls are notconstructed.

49. Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ

Established in 1964 to serve Arizona, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, the 49 congregations andcommunities comprising the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ are extravagantlywelcoming and affirming followers of Christ called to embody God’s unconditional love and justicein the world. We declared ours to be a Sanctuary ministry setting in 2017 responding to thetheological statements and calls for action of the United Church of Christ’s twentieth, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-sixth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-first General Synods. We affirm thedignity and worth of migrants, call for an end to their deaths, support their communities, renouncemilitarization of border communities, and affirm the need for the United States to enactcompassionate and comprehensive immigration reform that protects migrants’ human rights. Weembrace the Biblical mandate to offer welcome and hospitality to people fleeing danger. Anygovernment effort to restrict the flow of people fleeing danger is directly contrary to these Biblicalteachings about caring for the poor and oppressed. The United States government does not have theright under the Constitution to use an unsupported claim of a border emergency to interfere with thepractice of our religious beliefs.

50. T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is a network of 1,800 rabbis and cantors from allstreams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respectand advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experienceand guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish valuesby raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in NorthAmerica, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories. T’ruah’s opposition to illegal border wallconstruction is based in Jewish tradition and history. The Torah teaches the obligation to love theimmigrant, just as God loves and cares for the immigrant: “The ger (immigrant) who sojourns withyou shall be like a citizen unto you, and you shall love this person as yourself, for you were gerim inthe land of Egypt. I am Adonai, your God.” (Leviticus 19:34) The ancient rabbis taught that the cityof Sodom was considered the epitome of evil because the residents made laws prohibiting kindnessto strangers. In addition, within the Jewish community, many families are alive today because of therelatively open immigration policies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And too many Jewsdied after being trapped in Europe when the borders closed in 1924. We well understand thepotentially fatal consequences of xenophobia that criminalizes immigrants and militarizes borders.

51. Temple Israel of Hollywood (CA)

Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles was founded upon a dedication to social justice,through both thought and action. Leading Jewish thinkers, including Rabbis Mordechai Kaplan, LeoBaeck and Stephen S. Wise, gave sermons here about important social issues. In 1965, theReverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke movingly from the Temple’s pulpit about segregation,


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poverty, freedom, and human dignity. Ten years later, at the end of the Vietnam War, Bob Dylansang “Blowin’ in the Wind” at a Temple seder.

We support the brief on the basis of two principles -

1. Only the Congress of the United States as defined by the US Constitution has the power toallocate funds for any purpose and that the President's decision to ignore a majority vote of the USCongress against allocating funds to build the so-called security wall is unconstitutional;

2. We believe that the so-called “Trump Security Wall” is unnecessary and that there are better andmore effective and humane ways for the United States to manage immigration and process politicalasylum claims. As a Jewish community, we are commanded to welcome the stranger, and as anAmerican community, we are compelled to honor those who apply for political asylum based on awell-founded fear of persecution should the individual return to his/her home country. To deny eventhe application of political asylum and to prevent such individuals from even entering the UnitedStates, as the Trump Administration has threatened to do, is contrary to American law and tradition.

52. Trinity Church Wall Street

The Rector, Church-Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church in the city of New-York (“TrinityChurch Wall Street”) is a growing and inclusive Episcopal parish of more than 1,200 members thatseeks to serve and heal the world by building neighborhoods that live Gospel truths, generations offaithful leaders, and sustainable communities. The parish is guided by its core values: faith, integrity,inclusiveness, compassion, social justice, and stewardship. Members come from the five boroughs ofNew York City and surrounding areas to form a racially, ethnically, and economically diversecongregation. More than 20 worship services are offered every week at its historic sanctuaries,Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, the cornerstones of the parish’s community life, worship, andmission, and online at trinitywallstreet.org. The parish welcomes approximately 2.5 million visitorsper year.

Trinity Church Wall Street is a member of The Episcopal Church and supports the advocacyinitiatives of the national Church, including those directed toward issues of migration, refugees andimmigration. Specifically, Trinity Church Wall Street is working to promote and support the priorityissue areas identified by The Episcopal Church: maintaining family unity; building a pathway tocitizenship; protecting minors qualifying under the Development, Relief, and Education for AlienMinors Act (“DREAMers”); establishing long-term solutions for Temporary Protected Status(“TPS”) holders; and enacting reasonable and compassionate enforcement and border securitymeasures. “For more than a century The Episcopal Church has been engaged in the ministry ofwelcoming immigrants, walking with them as they begin their new lives in our communities andadvocating for immigration policies that protect families from separation, offer meaningful access tocitizenship, and respect the dignity of every human being.” The Episcopal Church Office ofGovernment Relations, Immigration, available at:https://advocacy.episcopalchurch.org/immigration?0.

In addition, Trinity Church Wall Street has undertaken its own initiatives in this area by offeringdirect assistance to refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, and through the promotion of policiesand programs aimed at assisting members of those communities. Over the past two years, Trinity


https://advocacy.episcopalchurch.org/immigration?0

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Church Wall Street has engaged in the following activities in support of migrant communities withinNew York City and throughout the United States:

• Organized a delegation of clergy to travel to the border in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez,Mexico, to learn about the plight of refugees and support other clergy and faith-basedorganizations serving immigrants released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement(“ICE”) detention;

• Convened a conference entitled “Undocumented” to teach members of the public aboutvarious forms of migration, asylum and TPS holders and how to best support immigrants andrefugees;

• Partnered with dozens of non-profit organizations across New York City to host the “City ofRefuge,” a series of events highlighting the need for more humane refugee policies, whichincluded multiple marches, teach-ins, interfaith religious services, and an overnight a “tentcity” held in the Trinity Church Wall Street churchyard;

• Partnered with New York non-profits and legislators to advocate for policies to ensure thatdetention centers holding minor children are responsible for reporting to the public regardingthe number and status of the children in their custody;

• Supported individual asylum seekers in connection with their interactions with ICE andcustoms authorities to ensure they are treated fairly and humanely by the immigrationsystem;

• Demonstrated against family separation by participating in the “End Family Separation NYCRally and March”;

• Promoted vigils and advocacy events concerning inhumane detention policies;

• Through grantmaking, supported organizations that advocate for immigrants and refugees,including the New York Immigration Coalition, The Robert Daniel Jones Refugee Shelter,Freedom for Immigrants, and others.

The Trump Administration’s efforts to build a border wall and to divert funds properly allocated forother government functions for the construction of the wall is antithetical to the religious and moralmission of Trinity Church Wall Street. Trinity Church Wall Street is committed to supportingrefugee and immigrant populations regardless of legal status, the President’s efforts to curtailmigration into the United States through construction of a wall at the southern border runs counter toour religious and humanitarian mission.

53. Unitarian Universalist FaithAction of New Jersey

Unitarian Universalist FaithAction of New Jersey is a not-for-profit advocacy organizationrepresenting 90% of all Unitarian Universalist congregations in the state of New Jersey. Grounded inour Unitarian Universalist faith, we confront systemic injustice and build a more compassionatesociety by:


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• Educating ourselves and others on social and political issues

• Mobilizing individuals and congregations to act for justice

• Advocating for equitable and sustainable public policy at state and local levels in NewJersey.

We envision a just New Jersey free from systemic oppression and greed, full of engaged peoplecommitted to each other, to our communities, and to the earth.

Guided by our first principle, “Respect for the inherent worth and dignity of each person,” we rejectthe current overly politicized and patently unjust Federal policy towards immigrants seeking asylumand/or a path to eventual citizenship in the U.S. The administration’s diversion of taxpayer dollarsto build a border wall—against the stated wishes of Congress—is only the latest in a series of actionsof executive overreach, misguided Homeland Security priorities and the morally bankrupt pursuit ofpolitical gains on the backs of thousands of otherwise peaceable, productive migrants to our shores.

54. Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network

Unitarian Universalist Mass Action is our State Action Network in Massachusetts. We organize andmobilize the 20,000 Unitarian Universalists in our state to live our values and principles. UnitarianUniversalist Mass Action opposes the Trump Administration’s use of taxpayer funds to build amonument of hate, ignorance and waste - also known as a border wall. The border wall that alreadyexists was meant to deter border crossings, but what it does is contribute to thousands of cruel,painful deaths in the desert. The border wall is not only ineffective, it violates human rights bycausing irreparable harm and suffering. We oppose the use of all public funds to further what we seeas crimes against humanity.

55. Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (“UUSC”) is a non-sectarian human-rightsorganization powered by grassroots collaboration. Currently based in Cambridge, Mass., UUSCbegan its work in 1939 when Rev. Waitstill and Martha Sharp took the extraordinary risk oftraveling to Europe to help refugees escape Nazi persecution. A moral commitment to the rights anddignity of persons seeking refuge from violence, discrimination, persecution, and natural disastershas been at the center of our organization’s mission for nearly 80 years. That history, coupled withour mission to advance human rights and dismantle systems of oppression, calls us to ensure that theUnited States’ immigration system upholds the rights of all migrants and the integrity of our asylumprocesses. Specifically, our work with grassroots partners in the border region leads us to believethat the appropriation of additional funds for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border,particularly in the context of dehumanizing rhetoric from our nation's leaders about immigrants andrefugees who transit across this border, will be used to reduce pathways to seek asylum and causemore unjust suffering and loss of life, as migrants and asylum-seekers are forced to attemptdangerous crossings in increasingly remote and inhospitable areas.


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56. United Methodist Women

United Methodist Women is one of the largest Protestant denominational faith organizations forwomen with approximately 800,000 members whose mission is fostering spiritual growth,developing leaders and advocating for justice. Our work includes service to women, children andyouth in marginalized communities in the United States and support for such work around the world.

Throughout our 150 year history we have worked to follow Jesus’s commandment to love God andlove our neighbor regardless of race, status or religious beliefs. We have a duty to welcome thestranger. The policies of this administration regarding persons at our southern border are particularlyharmful to women, children and youth and diverting funds to build a barrier rather that fundingneeded operations will increase this harm and make it harder for religious communities to offer careand support for those affected. United Methodist Women joins faith groups in support of an amicusbrief challenging this illegal method of achieving these policies.

57. University Christian Ministry at Northwestern University

University Christian Ministry (“UCM”) is a campus ministry of Northwestern undergraduate andgraduate students who try to make faith relevant in daily life. UCM is an honest, safe, and inclusivecommunity following the example of Jesus. We embrace openness, strive to love God, and serveothers to the best of our ability. In keeping with those values, we welcome Northwestern studentsinto our community regardless of immigration status, and believe that the construction of a southernborder wall is a senseless injustice.

58. West End Synagogue

West End Synagogue in New York, NY has signed on to this brief. We are a diverse group ofindividuals and families committed to exploring Jewish life and creating an intellectuallychallenging, spiritually vibrant, and mutually supportive community. Utilizing the principles ofReconstructing Judaism, we celebrate the richness and diversity of Jewish tradition through study,prayer, meditation, music and tikkun olam, or acts of repairing the world. Our social action traditionhas emphasized acts of kindness, activist work on behalf of social justice, and advocacy. Our supportof California’s motion is very much in this tradition and in the Torah’s admonition to welcome thestranger.

We believe that the efforts of the executive branch to take fiscal authority from the Congress violatesthe separation of powers and the appropriations clause of the Constitution. Concentration of powerin a strong executive has been used throughout history to curtail freedom of worship and to persecutereligious minorities. The history of the Jews speaks to this danger. From the persecution of Jews byPharoah in Egypt to persecution in Europe throughout much of the modern era to the Holocaust,political leaders have used their power to deprive us of our freedom. We have already seen thecurrent administration limit immigration of one religious minority, Muslims. The executive’s effortto re-appropriate moneys without Congress’ approval to build a wall sets a dangerous precedent thatcould be used against religious minorities.


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